By George Psyllides

A former convict on the run from police for five days claimed in court on Wednesday that he had been physically abused by officers who arrested him after a shootout the previous day.

Andreas Onoufriou, 63, opened fire at police officers outside his hideaway in Lagia village in rural Larnaca while holding his five-year-old son with one hand and a G3 assault rifle in the other before he made a run for it but was captured minutes later.

Onoufriou, who was remanded in custody for eight days on Wednesday, claimed he had been framed by police and that he had been physically abused by officers.

He rejected reports that he hid behind his child to save himself.

The 63-year-old showed the abrasions on his arms and asked Judge Tonia Nicolaou if she wanted him to take off his clothes to show the rest of his injuries. He showed up without a lawyer and defended himself.

At some stage the remand hearing was interrupted because Onoufriou said police had taken his glasses and he could not read the police statement.

“They took me to hospital for examination after the abused me. They lied that I asked to be taken to hospital,” Onoufriou told the Larnaca court.

The former convict claimed that officers fired at him while he held his child.

Police said Onoufriou sustained the injuries when he tried to escape by going down a 20-metre ravine.

The court heard that upon their arrival in the area, counter-terrorism squad officers noticed someone running in the yard of the dwelling and then they saw a child.

The child was heard calling “dad, dad” and was seen going towards the back.

He was followed by officers down a road when at some point the suspect appeared, armed with an assault rifle.

The suspect knelt in such a way that he was covered behind the child. He turned his weapon towards the officers and fired two bursts – at least eight rounds.

The officers took cover as Onoufriou fled, leaving the child behind.

The head of the squad fired three shots in the air above the suspect who went into a ravine.

After a brief standoff, Onoufriou heeded the officer’s repeated calls to throw down his weapon.

“Okay guys, let me see the kid,” Onoufriou was quoted as telling arresting officers.

There was still no explanation on how the suspect got hold of the child who lived with Onoufriou’s mother and two sisters.

Police said it was taken by a close associate of Onoufriou on Monday night.

Officers found three full assault rifle magazines on Onoufriou, and a hunting shotgun, and an airgun inside the hideaway. They also found a pistol, which reportedly belongs to a police officer.

The officer was part of a group of 10 who tried to search Onoufriou’s Limassol home for weapons last Thursday.

That day, according to police, Onoufriou, armed with an assault rifle, fired shots in the air and fled.

One of three vehicles found outside the fugitive’s hideaway had been reported stolen last December. Inside, police found a blonde longhaired wig, a pair of sunglasses, and the number plates of a car reported stolen in Limassol on March 7.

Police also arrested two more suspects in connection with the case: Christoforos Kyprianou, 63, and Michalakis Michael, 57.

Kyprianou, remanded for four days, is the owner of the house where Onoufriou was arrested on Tuesday while Michael is the owner of the shotgun. He was remanded in custody for three days.

Back in 1996 Onoufriou was sentenced to 18 years in jail for the attempted murder of a judge in Limassol.

In 2012 he was named in a plot to murder then Attorney-general Petros Clerides but the charges were later dropped.

Bank of Cyprus announced on Wednesday the release of the nine-month time deposits that were blocked as per the decrees relating to the recapitalisation of the Bank in July 2013 and which matured on April 30.

The total deposits amount to € 933 million.

According to BoC chairman Christis Hassapis, the decision was a result of consultation with the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Cyprus

The Bank has proceeded with the release of the nine-month time deposits in three parts: one third of nine-month time deposits is immediately released and becomes available in clients` current accounts, one third of nine-month time deposits is converted into a three-month time deposit maturing and automatically released at July 31, 2014 and one third of nine-month time deposits is converted into a six-month time deposit maturing and automatically released on October 31, 2014.

“The Bank’s improving liquidity position and its specific and deliberate actions to enhance its liquidity through deleveraging are the decisive reasons for the release of the deposits. Furthermore, the release of the deposits reflects the Bank’s prudent liquidity management and takes into account the improvement in the economic environment,” Hassapis said.

He added that with its decision, the bank’s management recognises the improving trust and confidence from customers.

The released funds will be subject to the general restrictive measures currently applicable in the Cypriot banking system.

London commuters crammed onto trains and buses on Wednesday as the second day of a strike by Underground train workers halved the level of services across the city, with unions accusing transport bosses of endangering the safety of the public.

The walk-out that started on Monday evening is the second two-day strike this year and the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union is threatening a further three-day walk-out next week over plans to cut 250 ticket offices and 950 jobs.

But conciliation service ACAS said in a statement that talks aimed at resolving the dispute would be held on Friday with commuters hopeful the second walk-out would be suspended as was the case after a two-day strike in February.

The dispute is over a restructuring that Transport for London (TfL), which runs the city’s transport network, says could save 50 million pounds ($84 million) a year as most passengers now use electronic ticket cards but the union argues that the cuts will impact safety and the quality of service.

This week’s strike, however, failed to stop many of the 3 million commuters using the Tube daily from getting to work, with TfL saying limited services were running on nearly all 11 lines and extra buses were on duty.

But as commuters posted photos of crowded stations, RMT bosses accused TfL of misleading the public over the level of services available and endangering the public with overcrowding trains and platforms.

“It helps no one … to deliberately mislead the public as to what services are available as it simply piles dangerous levels of pressure onto the ghost trains and skeleton operations, leaving passengers and staff at risk,” said RMT acting general secretary Mick Cash.

London Underground’s managing director Mike Brown said the level of services was at about 50 percent capacity compared to 40 percent during the last strike in February.

He said 90 percent of the electronic Oyster travel cards that would normally be used on the network were used on Tuesday and two thirds of the city’s 274 stations were open.

The walk-out this week only involves the RMT union with three other unions representing rail workers not involved, having accepted a promise of no forced redundancies and that no supervisors would have to reapply for their own job.

Brown urged the RMT to call off further action, saying TfL had already agreed there would be no compulsory redundancies and that safety would not suffer when ticket offices closed, with staff remaining on duty in stations and in control rooms.

The Federation of Small Businesses estimated that February’s two-day strike cost small businesses, which make up about 99 percent of London companies, about 600 million pounds in lost working hours, business and productivity.

Some politicians and trade union experts said the RMT action was as much political as anything as union leaders compete to establish their militant credentials in the race to succeed former RMT leader Bob Crow, who died suddenly in March.

Severe floods in Florida’s Panhandle and coastal Alabama deluged roads and engulfed homes and cars on Wednesday, the latest mayhem created by a tornado-packing storm system that has killed at least 34 people in the United States this week.

Florida Governor Rick Scott declared a state of emergency for 26 counties inundated by as much as 1 to 3 inches (2.5 to 7.6 centimeters) of hourly rain as severe thunderstorms raced across the northern part of the state.

Emergency workers received about 300 calls for evacuations in the Panhandle, where up to 22 inches (55.9 centimeters) of rain fell in recent days, Scott told reporters at an emergency operations center south of Tallahassee.

“There’s a lot of water on the ground,” the governor said, adding that the threat for more flash flooding remains.

The flooding appears to be the worst in 30 years in the Panhandle, according to initial radar images of the rainfall, said Eric Esbensen, a National Weather Service meteorologist.

Schools and roads were closed in several Panhandle counties including Escambia, where emergency officials used boats and high-water vehicles to rescue stranded motorists and residents.

State and county officials urged residents not to drive in the treacherous conditions of rising water, damaged roads and storm debris.

An elderly woman died late Tuesday in Escambia County after high waters submerged her car on a highway, the Florida Highway Patrol said.

Along Alabama’s Gulf Coast, major county roads were flooded and several rivers overflowed after some areas got between 22 and 26 inches (55.9 and 66 centimeters) of rain in 24 hours, according to Mitchell Sims, emergency management director for Baldwin County.

“We were rescuing people out of cars, out of ditches, out of homes,” Sims said. “We are still getting reports of people trapped.”

The storms were expected to spread across portions of the East Coast and could drop 2 to 5 additional inches (5.1 to 12.7 centimeters) of rain in some areas and launch fresh tornadoes, said National Weather Service meteorologist Corey Mead.

A flood warning was in effect until Wednesday afternoon for the Washington D.C. metro area, as well as urban areas and small streams between Virginia and Baltimore, Maryland.

Severe conditions may persist into Thursday, though “it looks like the weather may be quieting down as warmer, more humid air is pushed offshore by a cold front moving through the Appalachians,” Mead said.

There have been 27 confirmed weather-related deaths and more than 200 people reported injured across Arkansas and Mississippi, the hardest hit of six states struck by the storm system, as tornadoes reduced homes to rubble, shredded trees and launched vehicles into the air.

Deaths have also been reported in Oklahoma, Iowa, Alabama and Tennessee.

President Barack Obama has declared a major disaster in Arkansas and ordered federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts, the White House said.

Shelters have been set up for thousands of families forced out of their homes while the National Guard, local police and residents who lost all their possessions sifted through the rubble looking for more victims.

More than 2,000 houses and 100 commercial properties have been reported damaged.

By Conor Humphries

Northern Ireland police are questioning Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams over the 1972 abduction and murder of Jean McConville, his party said on Wednesday, after police said detectives investigating the case had arrested a 65-year-old man.

Adams said in a statement that he was “innocent of any part” in death of McConville, a widowed mother of 10 who was abducted and murdered by the IRA in 1972, one of the most controversial crimes of Northern Ireland’s sectarian violence.

A statement from the Police Service of Northern Ireland said a man had “presented himself” to police this evening, but it did not name the suspect.

By Constantinos Psillides

CYPRUS Cultural Foundation’s (CCF) general manager Tassos Angelis lashed out at the media on yesterday, saying he was unfairly treated when it came to making his contract terms public.

Angelis received a lot of negative publicity on Tuesday, when a letter regarding the termination of his employment was sent from Auditor-general Odysseas Michaelides to Finance Minister Harris Georgiades. Michaelides asked the finance ministry to look into possible disciplinary or criminal offences that may have been committed by board members and employees of the CCF, which may extend to misappropriation of government funds.

“The way the story was presented was inaccurate, indecent and highly offensive to my person,” Angelis said in a press release, adding that the matter of his contract termination was before the legal services for the past two months.

“I eagerly wait to hear what the legal services will have to say on the matter, and I am hoping their decision will respect the legality of the agreement,” he said.

The cabinet decided last December to terminate the general manager’s contract in light of the decision to suspend construction of the Cultural Centre. Angelis has remained in his post and has had his contract renewed until the end of 2015.

In his letter, Michaelides argued that continuing to pay Angelis provoked public sentiment.

According to the report, the manager was hired in 2006 without the CCF inviting applications. The original wage was €3,417 per month plus benefits, without specifying the nature of said benefits. The manager’s wage got a bump in 2008, when it scaled up to €3,929 plus €427 in expense allowances.

According to the report, he also enjoyed double provident fund benefits, due to a misinterpretation of the contract terms.

The perks of running an inactive organisation don’t stop there. According to Michaelides a car worth €44,424 was added to the perks in 2008.

The expense of maintaining the car, including road tax and gas, came to around €25,000 for six years, all of which was paid by the state.

The director’s contract of employment was renewed in 2007 until 2012 and included a clause that would see him compensated for the entire period until the end of 2012, even if he was dismissed at any prior point. The contract was subsequently renewed for three more years – until the end of 2015.

Besides benefits directly enjoyed by the general manager, the report also commented on possible misappropriation of CCF funds.

Among others, Michaelides demanded to know the nature of the collaboration between the CCF and a civil engineer. The civil engineer in question was hired in 2006 as a technical advisor for construction of the Cyprus Cultural Centre, without the CCF inviting applications, while in 2008 he started working full-time for the CCF. His monthly wage for 2008 was €5,134. In total, until 2012, the CCF paid the civil engineer in question €149,356.

The civil engineer had also assumed the role of project manager despite not having the necessary qualifications, as set by the EU for projects that were to receive any EU funding, the Michaelides report said.

It also mentions a number of technical advisors and experts whose services were procured under circumstances not compatible with rules and regulations set by the state. One that stands out was the hiring of legal advisors. According to the report, the CCF invited a tender that was awarded to a law office that proposed a €50 per hour charge for legal services and no charge for a secretary. The CCF didn’t sign a contract with the law office and when it was time to renew their cooperation, the charge increased to €350 per hour for legal services and €50 per hour for secretarial services. Michaelides wants to know why a contract wasn’t signed in the first place and why the CCF didn’t invite a new tender.

THE European Banking Authority (EBA) has published the methodology and the scenarios to be used for the 2014 pan-European stress tests, which reveals adverse forecasts for unemployment and real-estate prices this year.

According to the EBA, the stress tests “will identify remaining vulnerabilities in the EU banking sector and will provide a high level of transparency into EU banks` exposures”.

In Cyprus banks to undergo stress tests include Bank of Cyprus, Hellenic Bank and the Cooperative sector.

The Core Tier-1 capital of the banks undergoing the stress tests will have to be at least 8.0 per cent according to the baseline scenario and at least 5.5 per cent on the basis of the adverse scenario.

The adverse scenario for Cyprus foresees that GDP in 2014 will shrink by 1.5 per cent further than Cyprus` international lenders, the troika (EC, ECB, IMF) predict and will reach 6.3 per cent while it will be contained at 0.5 per cent in 2015 with a modest 1.1 per cent of growth in 2016.

Unemployment will reach 19.6 per cent in 2014, will fall slightly to 19.4 per cent in 2015 and 18.4 per cent in 2016.

The adverse scenario predicts that inflation will be recorded at about 0.4 per cent in 2014, will go up to 0.8 per cent in 2015 and will reach 1 per cent in 2016.

On the basis of the adverse scenario stock prices in Cyprus will fall by 19.9 per cent in 2014, 20.6 per cent in 2015 and 26.6 per cent in 2016.

Residential property prices will fall by 4.0 per cent in 2014, 6.4 per cent in 2015 and 6.4 per cent in 2016. Real estate prices in general are predicted to go down by 11.9 per cent in 2014, 11 per cent in 2015 and 7.0 per cent in 2016.

Commercial property prices are forecast to reduce by 7.9 per cent in 2014, 6.5 per cent in 2015 and 3.0 per cent in 2016.

The adverse scenario foresees also that the impact of a shock in state funding will affect the increase of real GDP by 0.10 per cent in 2014, 0.21 per cent in 2015 and 0.29 per cent in 2016.

In as far as the baseline scenario for Cyprus in concerned GDP is expected to follow troika predictions according to which the economy will shrink by 4.8 per cent in 2014, achieving marginal growth of 0.9 per cent in 2015 and 1.9 per cent in 2016.

Unemployment will reach 19.2 per cent in 2014, will fall to 18.4 per cent in 2015 and will be reduced even further to 17.0 per cent in 2016, the baseline scenario predicts.

Inflation will range at about 0.4 per cent in 2014, will go up by 1.4 per cent in 2015 and 1.7 per cent in 2016.

Real estate prices in general are foreseen to fall by 7.0 per cent in 2014, 5.2 per cent in 2015 and 2 per cent in 2016.

At the same time commercial property prices are expected to go down by 4.9 per cent in 2014, 3.5 per cent in 2015 and 0.5 per cent in 2016. (CNA)

By Staff Reporter

THE cabinet yesterday approved draft legislation extending the authority of the financial ombudsman to include mediation on loan restructuring when the collateral is the borrower’s main residence.

The draft law covers cases where borrowers mortgaged their homes for up to €350,000 to finance their small or medium business.

“With the mediation process there is a protective network for the main residence and viable debtors, provided the property in question was used as collateral in the loan that is under restructure,” deputy spokesman Victoras Papadopoulos.

The Financial Ombudsman is an independent service tasked with settling disputes between financial institutions and their customers – a daunting undertaking given the astronomical number of non-performing loans (NPLs) in post-March 2013 Cyprus that will ostensibly need to be renegotiated.

The office is designed to serve as an independent authority that would be engaged when all internal restructuring efforts made privately between the banks and borrowers have been exhausted, in order to help broker a settlement without resorting to the courts.

Meanwhile, the ombudsman, Pavlos Ioannou, warned that his office must be staffed by personnel seconded from other departments to avoid delays.

By George Psyllides

THE House Ethics Committee decided yesterday not to publish the names of people and companies which transferred cash abroad in the days before a decision to seize bank deposits and while the island’s banking system went into lockdown after that decision was made.

The decision was taken by majority vote.

AKEL and DISY voted in favour while DIKO and EDEK disagreed.

Chairman Demetris Syllouris said the committee wanted to give time to the Central Bank governor to process the data.

“The committee has decided by majority vote not to publish the names at this stage without processing,” Syllouris said.

He said the committee will carry out a more in-depth study of the information in its possession and decide by the end of June.

Syllouris rejected suggestions that the decision could be viewed as a cover-up.

“I don’t get it; are we tossing dirt in our eyes? Did we find the data to cover it up? We found the data to process it,” Syllouris said.

DISY MP Andreas Kyprianou said the party’s position was to publish the names of all politically exposed persons who transferred money abroad during the lockdown.

“We judged that it was more important to carry out this serious work and complete it by June instead of the temporary impressions that could be created by a sweeping publication of the lists,” AKEL MP Aristos Damianou said.

The committee unanimously agreed early in April to publish the list of names of individuals and companies which transferred funds abroad between June 2012 and March 15, 2013, when deposits over €100,000 in the island’s two major banks were converted to help recapitalise.

But the two big parties did a U-turn a couple of days later following warnings from the business world and banks that such a move would hurt the ailing economy.

DIKO MP Fytos Constantinou suggested that it would be difficult to find who the politically exposed individuals were.
“There must be investigations to find out exactly who is hiding behind these companies because if we manage to find three or five or 10 exposed people we could leave behind many more,” he said.

The lists are included in a findings report drafted by the committee following an 18-month investigation into the collapse of the economy.

The report will be discussed by the plenum on May 6.

THERE HAS been a surfeit of high sounding announcements issued by parties, unions and organisations on the occasion of Labour Day. All have noted the high unemployment, which numbers about 80,000 people, the high percentage of jobless youths, falling wages and the erosion of workers’ rights. Nobody could challenge these observations, which nevertheless avoid dealing with the causes of our economic problems that started appearing long before the collapse of the banks.

Unemployment had been on an upward trend before the haircut of the Greek government bonds and the exclusion of Cyprus from the markets. No matter how many measures the Christofias government’s labour minister took the rise in unemployment could not be halted because the economy was already in recession and business had begun downsizing. The property bubble had already burst causing demand to fall and putting pressure on all businesses.

In retrospect, we know that the high employment level was being sustained by high bank borrowing rather than a healthily-performing economy. High interest rates, charged by banks, only made matters worse for businesses, forcing them to cut jobs. We mention this because most May Day declarations did not even acknowledge the unsound foundations on which our economic model had been built. After all it was thanks to this model that we had the labour shortages that allowed unions to consistently secure the big pay rises that eroded competitiveness and made the situation worse.

Now things have gone in the opposite direction. There is an excess supply of labour and falling demand which means that wages will keep falling. And with the number of unemployed at 80,000, nobody knows when and where the downward slide will stop. One thing is certain it is not in the hands of the government or the unions. For instance some the declarations have been arguing that the government should be tougher in its negotiations with the troika, the implication being that this would make a difference to unemployment levels. Others have been calling for money to be spent on development, as if this would miraculously kick-start the economy.

Unfortunately there are no quick-fix solutions and we fear things will get worse before they start to get better. And when things improve we may find that the optimum size of our economy might not be big enough to achieve the conditions of full employment that we had become accustomed to and allowed unions to keep pushing up wages. Of course none of this applies to the first-class workers employed in the public sector, who have always been unaffected by what happens to the economy and the second-class workers.

By Staff Reporter

A YEAR has passed since the Eurogroup decision on a bailout plan brought the island to its knees and the banks into a freefall, and a pair of encouraging announcements yesterday suggest that the economy might be on a path to recovery.

Biggest lender Bank of Cyprus said that its board approved the release of some €900m in fixed-term deposits, much to the delight of thousands of depositors who have seen their savings slashed ever since the ‘bail-in’ to rescue the bank last summer.

This was also a sign of confidence by the bank’s management who have been struggling with liquidity issues and the recovery of non-performing loans that account for nearly 50 per cent of their loanbook, a risky position made tougher with the new stress-tests for European banks announced earlier this week.

At the same time, the ministry of finance made a surprise announcement yesterday that it had raised €100m in a six-year bond via a private placement with an overseas investor, in the first international debt issue since the bailout rescued it from bankruptcy a year ago.

News about BoC’s release of the 9-month deposits that matured yesterday came as a relief to cash-strapped depositors who can once again access their large-sum savings that were blocked and split into three schemes last year to help the bank stand on its feet again.

The bank said in a statement that the reason behind the decision was “the improving liquidity position and the specific and deliberate actions to enhance liquidity through deleveraging,” the process adopted by the management to offload non-core assets, such as overseas operations and properties that have been vacated after the forced merger with Laiki Popular Bank.

“The release of the deposits reflects the bank’s prudent liquidity management and takes into account the improvement in the economic environment. The (bank’s) management recognises the improving trust and confidence shown by customers and, in tandem, meets the expectations of the general public in Cyprus for supporting the recovery of the economy as a whole,” said BoC chairman Christis Hassapis.

This was in a similar mood to the announcements made in January when the bank took the risk of releasing some €900m in 6-month fixed deposits, not knowing if thes funds would ever return to its branches.

This was confirmed by the European Central Bank data released this week that showed private-sector deposits rising slightly in March, the first increase since November.

The Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Cyprus have both approved the deposits release.

As per the release of the 6-month deposits, BoC said that it will proceed with the release of the 9-month time deposits as follows: a third of the amount is immediately made available in clients’ current accounts; a third is converted into a 3-month deposit maturing and automatically released on July 31; and the remaining third is converted into a 6-month deposit maturing and automatically released on October 31.

Hassapis said that the release of deposits marks yet another positive development for the bank following the sale of its Ukraine operations, as well as its stake in the Romanian bank Banca Transilvania.

Following a decision by EU finance ministers in March 2013, 47.5 per cent of uninsured deposits of over €100,000 were seized to recapitalise the bank, and the remaining 52.5 per cent was ordered frozen by the CBC.

In July, the CBC said in a joint statement issued with the finance ministry that 12 per cent of the outstanding balance in depositor funds which were frozen under the bail-in arrangement would be unblocked.

The remaining frozen funds were equally divided and placed in six, nine, and 12-month timed deposits.

Following the bail-in from the uninsured deposits, BoC achieved a core capital adequacy ratio of 10.2 per cent, according to figures for September 2013. New banking rules mandate a 9 per cent minimum core tier 1 ratio. The bank however is still leaking deposits, though at a slower pace over the last few months.

Meanwhile, the finance ministry said yesterday that the €100m bond issue carried a yield of 6.5 per cent and was launched under Cyprus’ borrowing facility with its creditors known as the European Medium Term Note (EMTN) programme.

The bonds will be listed on the London Stock Exchange and settled via Euroclear, the settlement system for securities transactions, the ministry said.

Proceeds from the transaction will be used for public debt management, including government financing, it added.

Access to the eurobond market was taking place via its updated EMTN programme.

The facility has not been used since before Cyprus was effectively shut out of international financing markets in May 2011 because of a spike in yields on its benchmark bonds. Yields have since fallen to about 5 per cent from more than 14 per cent, according to Reuters calculations.

“The Ministry of Finance will continue assessing market conditions and options as part of the broader strategy aiming towards the full restoration of market access,” the ministry said.

Last week, credit ratings agency Standard and Poor’s raised its long-term rating on Cyprus to B from B-, after the island gained plaudits from lenders for sticking to a painful adjustment programme and amid a receding threat of not being able to meet loan repayments.

The EMTN programme has a €9bn ceiling. Debt worth about €2.5bn has been launched under the programme to date, a finance ministry official said.

Due to the May Day public holiday the next edition of the Cyprus Mail will be on Saturday May 3.

Two men, including a well-known Larnaca businessman, 59, have been remanded in custody for six days in connection with the sexual exploitation of a minor, it emerged on Thursday.

The second suspect, 35, is also suspected of abduction, rape, causing actual bodily harm, solicitation, and exploitation of prostitutes.

The 35-year-old has been accused by a girl, 15, from Larnaca, of abduction and rape.

She told police that she had met the man through an online social network and they had agreed to meet last Saturday.

The girl claimed the suspect took her to his flat in Nicosia where he beat her and had sex with her against her will.

A 14-year-old girl also went to the flat on condition that she would be paid for her services, it was claimed. The 35-year-old also had sex with her, the court heard.

The 15-year-old claimed that she and the other girl were then driven to a flat in Larnaca where they had sex again, this time with the participation of the 59-year-old.

Police have not yet located the 14-year-old girl.

By Maurice Neill and Conor Humphries

Police in Northern Ireland questioned Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams on Thursday after arresting him under an investigation into one of the province’s most notorious murders, a move that stirred fierce political reaction in Britain and Ireland.

Reviled by many in Britain as the spokesman for the Irish Republican Army in the 1980s, Adams reinvented himself as a Northern Ireland peacemaker and then as a populist opposition politician in the Irish parliament.

His Sinn Fein party said he was arrested on Wednesday evening by police investigating the 1972 abduction and murder of Jean McConville, a mother of 10 children.

Adams can be held for up to 48 hours, or until 8 p.m. (1900 GMT) on Friday, before a judge must rule on whether he can be held any longer. Under British anti-terrorism laws, a suspect can be held for up to 28 days before being charged.

Adams, 65, who has always denied membership of the IRA, said he was “innocent of any part” in the killing, which he said was “wrong and a grievous injustice to her and her family”.

“Well publicised, malicious allegations have been made against me. I reject these,” he said in a statement.

The investigation into McConville’s killing has been revived by the release of a series of taped interviews given by former guerrillas from the Northern Ireland conflict for a research project at Boston College in the United States.

The Northern Ireland police took legal steps to acquire the interviews, parts of which have already been released after one IRA interviewee died. Participants had been told by the college that their words would be released only after they died.

PROBATIVE VALUE

Joe Rice, a Belfast lawyer who has represented senior Republicans over the past three decades, said the tapes would be of little evidential value but would offer a lot of “probative value”, meaning police could play them and demand that Adams respond to details in the recordings.

Rice said Adams had presented himself voluntarilty for police questioning and would not have expected to be arrested.

“It looks like his legal team are surprised that he was detained overnight. I would have thought that if it was to be a pre-arranged questioning, as I understand, he probably didn’t need to be arrested,” Rice said.

Nuala O’Loan, a former Northern Ireland police ombudsman who investigated the police’s handling of the murder in 2006, was asked if the Boston tapes would be admissible in court.

“I hesitate to comment as I have not seen these tapes but the indicators are that these are useful as investigative tools but I would not go further than that,” she told the BBC.

Another Belfast lawyer, who did not want to be named, added: “The main problem with historic crimes is that it doesn’t offer the defendant an opportunity to provide an alibi, simply because in the passage of time your memory fades.”

There would be no means for Adams to cross examine the person who provided the recordings, so he could not attack the person’s credibility, the lawyer said.

Under the 1998 Good Friday agreement, which drew a line under 30 years of sectarian strife in the British province, those convicted of paramilitary murders during the conflict would have life sentences reduced to two years.

BOSTON COLLEGE

Boston College officials said on Thursday they had not been involved in the Northern Irish authorities’ actions.

“We are not privy to the actions of British law enforcement and have had no involvement in the matter since the U.S. court issued the order to remand portions of the archived interviews last year,” said Jack Dunn, a spokesman for the school. “As a result, it would be inappropriate to comment on this issue.”

Northern Ireland’s deputy first minister, former IRA commander Martin McGuinness, said Adams’ arrest was a deliberate attempt to influence European and local elections on May 23, and the “dark side” within Northern Ireland policing was to blame.

O’Loan disagreed. “I am quite sure the police would not have arrested Mr Adams had they not felt that they had the reasons to do so.”

Political leaders on both sides of the Irish Sea rejected Sinn Fein’s suggestions of a political motive for the arrest.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said there was absolutely no political interference, a view echoed by Peter Robinson, First Minister of Northern Ireland.

The chairman of Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny’s party, Fine Gael, said Sinn Fein’s suggestions of a political motivation were “baseless and desperate”.

COUNTY LOUTH

McConville’s body was found in 2003 by a man walking on a beach in County Louth, which Adams now represents in Ireland’s parliament. The IRA accused McConville of being an informer for the British, a charge her family has always denied.

McConville, a Protestant who had married a Catholic, was said to have gone to the aid of a wounded British soldier serving in the province, which was torn by violence between Catholic republicans and pro-British Protestants.

Michael McConville, who was 11 when he witnessed his widowed mother being taken from their Belfast home, said the IRA had warned the family not to go to the police.

“The IRA stopped me from doing it,” he told Irish broadcaster RTE. “The IRA said it would kill me or some of my family members.”

As head of the political wing of the IRA, Sinn Fein, Adams was a pariah in 1980s Britain, banned from speaking on British airwaves, forcing television stations to dub his voice with that of an actor.

Former Prime Minister John Major once said the thought of sitting down with him “turned his stomach”. Adams emerged from the political cold in October 1997 when he shook hands with Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair at their first meeting.

A year later Adams helped broker a peace deal that largely ended the violence between Catholic militants seeking union with Ireland and mainly Protestant militants, who wanted to maintain Northern Ireland’s position as a part of Britain.

Since that peace deal Adam’s role as a statesman has grown. He is a regular visitor to the White House and was a guest of honour at the funeral of former South African president and anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela last year.

HAUNTED BY KILLING

But the killing of McConville has haunted him and has been repeatedly raised in interviews during his career as a member of the Irish parliament.

It is unclear what effect the arrest might have on Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government, but the arrest will have major ramifications in the Republic of Ireland where Adams leads the second largest opposition party.

He was forced to distance himself from his brother. Liam Adams was sentenced last year to 16 years in prison for raping his daughter when she was a child. The Public Prosecution Service decided not to prosecute Gerry over allegations of withholding information from the police on the issue.

By Hanna Rantala

Thousands of fans joined Formula One drivers past and present on Thursday in marking the 20th anniversary of the death of Ayrton Senna at the Italian circuit where the triple champion crashed 20 years ago.

They thronged the track to observe a minute’s silence at the Tamburello corner at 2.17 p.m., the moment the Brazilian’s Williams ploughed into the wall while leading the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.

Many carried flags and some pointed to the sky, as Senna did when he won, in remembrance before breaking into applause when the minute ended.

Austrian rookie Roland Ratzenberger had died the day before Senna, when he crashed during qualifying, and the two remain the last driver fatalities during a grand prix weekend.
The circuit near Bologna was opened to the public with tribute events scheduled in Imola, including a memorial football match and the naming of a square, over the next four days. According to organisers, some 20,000 people attended on Thursday.

A mass, attended by Ratzenberger’s parents, was held on Wednesday night.
“It’s so emotional for us because it’s a long time and still the love from the people is very alive,” Senna’s niece Paula, representing the family, told Reuters Television.
“It seems like Ayrton is living inside people’s hearts, so it’s beautiful.”

Current Ferrari drivers Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen, as well as Senna’s friend and former McLaren team mate Gerhard Berger, were among those present at the track named after the late Enzo Ferrari and son Dino.

“For me he was an idol. I was a kid who rode karts, and back then I watched the news and saw that it was always him winning with his yellow helmet on,” said double world champion Alonso, who was 12 when Senna died. “That was what hit me the most.
“I had his poster on my wardrobe and it’s a shame that I never got to know him or race against him, but the number of people here at Imola… is a testament to his impact. He will always be immortal.”

Senna’s favourite Sao Paulo football team Corinthians donned replicas of his distinctive yellow, green and black helmet before the start of a Cup match against Nacional in Manaus on Wednesday.

Social media was flooded with tributes, recollections and an outpouring of affection for a driver held up as one of the greatest of champions, if not the greatest.
“He was the best and most charismatic race driver F1 has ever had,” said Austria’s triple champion Niki Lauda, now non-executive chairman of the Mercedes team. “He had personality, he was fast and he had charisma. No wonder that he won everything.”

Italian MotoGP great Valentino Rossi spoke on Twitter of Senna as “an inspiration, and even if 20 years have passed his spirit lives on in all racing riders and drivers.”
Jean Todt, the president of the governing International Automobile Federation (FIA), said in an address delivered on his behalf that the fight to improve safety would never cease and there could be no complacency.

“No matter how secure we may feel that injuries and fatalities are a thing of the past, the battle for completely safe racing is never won,” he said.
“The untimely deaths of these two superb sportsmen served as a wake-up call for all of us,” added the Frenchman.
“Perhaps the greatest legacy of Ayrton and Roland is that in the wake of that dark weekend in 1994, the pursuit of safer motor sport, in all its forms, received greater impetus than ever before.”

A total of 61 hopefuls on Friday submitted their candidacies for European Parliament elections on Sunday, May 25.
Cyprus will elect six MEPs. Out of the 61 runners – party-affiliated and independent – six are Turkish Cypriots.
Chief Returning Officer Constantinos Nicolaides said that eight candidates are independent.
He said that according to the legislation a period of 24 hours will now be allowed for anyone to submit any objections against any candidacy.
Nicolaides added if there is no objection all candidates will be included in the ballots to be printed for the election.

By Maria Tsvetkova

Pro-Russian rebels shot down two Ukrainian helicopters trying to retake separatist-held Slaviansk in the country’s east on Friday and four people were killed as fighting broke out on the streets of Odessa on the Black Sea.

Separatists said Ukrainian forces killed three of their fighters and two civilians when they moved in on Slaviansk in the early hours in what Moscow called a “criminal” assault.

Kiev said two helicopter crew had died and seven servicemen had been wounded in the operation.

On the other side of Ukraine, police said three people were shot dead and in 15 others were wounded in clashes between people backing Kiev and pro-Russian activists in largely Russian-speaking Odessa. Another man was killed and a building was set on fire as the fighting continued into the evening.

The southern Black Sea port lies close to Crimea, which was annexed by Moscow in March following the overthrow of Ukraine’s pro-Moscow president by protesters angered by his decision to scrap a trade deal with Europe.

President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman said Ukrainian forces had fired on civilians from the air in Slaviansk in a “punitive operation” that destroyed an international peace plan. Moscow has tens of thousands of troops massed on the border and claims the right to invade if needed to protect Russian speakers.

The Western-backed government in Kiev said the use of missiles to bring down its helicopters showed Russian forces were in the town. Moscow denies its troops are on the ground.

Ukraine’s acting president also said Russian “armed saboteurs” had tried to enter the country overnight, but were pushed back by Ukrainian border troops. Russia’s Security Service said the report was untrue.

Kiev said Moscow was backing groups in eastern Ukraine who were “putting civilians in danger, seizing hostages and creating an atmosphere of terror and violence”.

Reuters journalists in Slaviansk, the most heavily fortified bastion of pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, heard shooting and saw one helicopter opening fire before dawn. Later in the day, the city was largely quiet, with shops shut and armed separatists in control of the streets.

Advancing Ukrainian forces in armoured vehicles took up positions in the suburbs, but rebels still controlled most of the town of 130,000.

Acting President Oleksander Turchinov said the operation had been complicated by the rebels’ use of human shields and had not progressed as quickly as had been hoped.

 SOUND OF CANNON

The growing chaos is overshadowing a presidential election the pro-Western leadership in Kiev is planning for May 25. The rebels are planning a vote on May 11 to seek a mandate to break with Kiev, like one held in Crimea before Moscow took it over.

The United States and Europe have imposed sanctions on individuals over the Ukraine crisis but they have had limited impact. US President Barack Obama said the next step would be sanctions on sectors of the Russian economy and they would be imposed if Moscow impeded the Ukrainian presidential poll.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, visiting Washington, told a joint news conference with Obama that the elections on May 25 were critical and sectoral sanctions were ready.

The energy and banking sectors are likely targets.

On the square outside city hall in Slaviansk, about 100 people gathered on Friday and said they were appealing to Putin to send troops to help them.

Businesswoman Tamara Voshchanaya said: “What can you think when the sound of cannon makes you jump out of bed, when helicopters are flying over and shooting at our guys?

On the town’s southern outskirts, eight Ukrainian armoured personnel carriers cut off the road but faced a cordon of local residents shouting at them to go home. Some rebels erected barricades of trees.

Putin’s popularity has soared with the seizure of Crimea and talk of restoring Moscow’s former empire. This week he restored the Soviet-era tradition of holding a May Day parade on Red Square, where marchers carried banners hailing the acquisition of Ukrainian territory.

US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Russia’s actions in Ukraine had shattered the myth of European security in the post-Cold War era and said NATO allies had increased the danger by failing to meet their defence spending pledges.

The European Union said it was watching events in eastern Ukraine with growing concern. But Kiev is not a member of NATO and Western leaders have made clear they will not fight to defend Ukraine.

HELICOPTERS DOWN

The Ukrainian Defence Ministry said two Mi-24 attack helicopters had been shot down by shoulder-launched missiles while on patrol overnight around Slaviansk. Two airmen were killed and others wounded.

Other Ukrainian officials and the separatist leader in Slaviansk said earlier that one airman was taken prisoner.

A third helicopter, an Mi-8 transport aircraft, was also hit and a serviceman wounded, the Defence Ministry said. The SBU security service said this helicopter was carrying medics.

Ukrainian officials said their troops overran rebel checkpoints and Slaviansk was now “tightly encircled”.

Putin’s spokesman heaped blame on the Ukrainian government, which took power two months ago after pro-Western protests forced president Viktor Yanukovich to flee to Russia.

Noting that Putin had warned before that any “punitive operation” would be a “criminal act”, Dmitry Peskov told Russian news agencies that this had now happened in Slaviansk.

“While Russia is making efforts to de-escalate and settle the conflict, the Kiev regime has turned to firing on civilian towns with military aircraft and has begun a punitive operation, effectively destroying the last hope of survival for the Geneva accord,” he said, referring to a deal on April 17 signed by Russia, Ukraine, the United States and the European Union.

Under that agreement, separatists were supposed to lay down their arms and vacate the public buildings they have seized in about a dozen towns they have seized across the Russian-speaking east. Since then, however, they have tightened their grip.

Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said it persuaded separatists to leave two buildings in the city of Luhansk on Friday.

The SBU said the deadly use by the separatists of shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles was evidence that “trained, highly qualified foreign military specialists” were operating in the area “and not local civilians, as the Russian government says, armed only with guns taken from hunting stores”.

On Facebook, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said his message to the separatists was simple: “Free the hostages, lay down weapons, vacate administrative buildings and get municipal infrastructure back to normal.”

The rebels said they had the upper hand.

“They wanted to carry out some small-scale tactical operations just to scare the people,” said a militant at a checkpoint. “But so far things have not worked out the way they wanted.”

By Lesley Wroughton

The United States said on Thursday it had offered to help Nigeria in its search for around 200 girls abducted by Islamist militants from a school in the northeast of the West African country.

“We have been engaged with the Nigerian government in discussions on what we might do to help support their efforts to find and free these young women,” State Department spokeswoman Marie Harftold a daily briefing. “We will continue to have those discussions and help in any way we can.”

Gunmen suspected to be from the radical Islamist movement Boko Haram on April 14 stormed an all-girls secondary school in the village of Chibok, in Borno state, packed the teenagers onto trucks and disappeared into a remote area along the border with Cameroon.

The kidnapping occurred the same day a bomb blast, also blamed on Boko Haram, killed 75 people on the edge of the capital, Abuja, and it marked the first attack on the capital in two years.

But the brutality of the school attack has shocked Nigerians long accustomed to hearing about atrocities in an increasingly bloody five-year-old Islamist insurgency in the north. Boko Haram is now seen as the main security threat to Africa’s leading energy producer.

Harf did not elaborate on the kind of assistance Washington is offering, but said: “We know Boko Haramis active in the area and we have worked very closely with the Nigerian government to build their capacity to fight this threat.”

Separately, a group of US senators introduced a resolution condemning the abduction and urging US government assistance in the rescue effort.

“The US and the international community must work with the Nigerian government to ensure these girls are reunited with their families and deepen efforts to combat the growing threat posed by Boko Haram,” said Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, the chairman of the Senate’s African Affairs subcommittee, and one of the resolution’s six sponsors.

In fiscal year 2012, the United States provided over $20 million in security assistance to Nigeria, part of that to build the country’s military, boost its capacity to investigate terrorist attacks and enhance the government’s forensic capabilities, she said.

By Iacovos Constantinou

FOUR more rounds to go before the end of the football season and with the exception of the two teams rooted at the bottom of their respective groups, Anorthosis and AEK Kouklion, the remaining sides have something to play for other than their pride.

The most interesting tie is from the title-challenging group between third-placed Apollon, and the team five points above them,  APOEL, at the Tsirion stadium in Limassol.
Apollon know that only a win can keep their hopes alive for a Champions League position finish. They will be without their leading marksman Gaston Sangoy who is out for the rest of the season but coach Christoforou should be able to recall Paboulis to the starting eleven as he has fully recovered from injury.

APOEL need to bounce back from their defeat last weekend as they cannot drop further behind leaders AEL with so few remaining games. Greek coach Donis is spoilt for choice as he has all his players available for selection.

Leaders AEL travel to Larnaca to face Ermis with a number of selection problems. Dede is suspended while defensive stalwart Ouon and striker Kaluderovic join long term absentee Sachetti on the sidelines. Coach Petev was dealt a further blow on Thursday when midfielder Ohene injured himself in and is doubtful for the game.

On the other hand Ermis Aradippou want to lock down fourth place as it leads to a more favourable path in the Europa League and with Omonia just three points behind, know that even a draw will keep them well on course.

Anorthosis have not won a game since their new coach Kostenoglou took charge almost three months ago. They face injury-plagued, but thirsty for points Omonia at home, in what should be an open and attacking game.

Aris need the win against doomed AEK Kouklion at the Tsirion stadium to make a decisive step in maintaining their first division status. Ton Caanen’s outfit is in excellent form and should have few problems in seeing off the Kouklia team.

Ethnikos Achnas play hosts to indifferent AEK Larnaca in a game they have to win. They are still fuming however from some rather dubious, to say the least, refereeing decisions last Sunday and have been calling all week for better and fairer refereeing.

In the last game of the weekend group B leaders Nea Salamina take on relegation ‘favourites’ Doxa Katokopias at the Ammochostos stadium. Nea Salamina are strong at home and Doxa will have to be at their very best if they are to get anything out of this game.

Saturday, May 3: Group A – Apollon v APOEL, Anorthosis v Omonia (18.00), Ermis v AEL (19.30)
Sunday May 4: Group B – Aris v AEK Kouklion, Ethnikos Achnas v AEK Larnaca, Nea Salamina v Doxa (all at 17.00)

By Elias Hazou

Halliburton and Schlumberger, two of the world’s largest oilfield services companies, have chosen Cyprus as their base of operations for the eastern Mediterranean.

The Mail has learned that the two multinational corporations will sign the relevant agreements with the government this month.

The Halliburton agreement will likely be concluded the weekend after the next (May 10 or 11), with Schlumberger putting ink on paper one or two weeks later.

Gas expert Charles Ellinas, former executive chairman of the Cyprus National Hydrocarbons Company, named the two companies when asked by the Mail about local press reports suggesting two multinationals were about to set up shop here.

He said Halliburton in particular have been looking to rent land for their base of operations in the Aradippou/Larnaca area, close to the Larnaca harbour and the airport.

Halliburton provides drilling services and gear for companies prospecting for hydrocarbons.

Their base in Cyprus will cover the entire East Mediterranean, which is expected to become a hotbed of exploration activity in the years to come.

“Halliburton estimates that over the next few years around 50 to 60 new wells are going to be drilled in the East Med. We’re talking about Israel, Cyprus, and Lebanon. Supposing that drilling costs are anywhere from $5bn to $7bn, should Halliburton get half those contracts, it’s well worth it for them,” Ellinas said.

The island’s political stability is the chief reason why Schlumberger and Halliburton have picked Cyprus as the location for their regional base of operations.

“It makes more sense to set up shop here rather than, say, Lebanon or Egypt,” said Ellinas. “This is a big deal for us.”

Halliburton’s activities here would consist of storing their drilling gear and opening up offices.

“Once they’re up and running, they’d start bringing in their equipment. In addition to storage space, the gear would have to be serviced, the company would need supplies etc. This is where local companies come in, providing support services.”

And, according to Ellinas, Halliburton, which operate in more than 80 countries, tend to set up management teams but then hire locals to do the work.

Over the course of their operation here, the US corporation could thus hire and train hundreds of locals, he said.

Schlumberger, arguably the world’s largest oilfield services company, has its principal offices located in Houston, Paris, and the Hague. In the industry they are known as sub-surface specialists, and develop a lot of the software used to analyse seismic data.

Ellinas sounded a note of caution, however: “We need to encourage oil and gas companies by cutting down on the red tape. These companies may be competing, but they’re also talking to one other. If one of them is unhappy operating in Cyprus, word spreads.”

The Italian-Korean consortium ENI-KOGAS are expected to carry out exploratory drilling in one of their Cypriot offshore licenses in the second half of the year. Already at Larnaca harbour, space has been allotted to Malta-based Medserv, oil and gas logistics specialists, acting as subcontractors for ENI-KOGAS.

Medserv’s facilities in Larnaca could conceivably be used by companies like Halliburton and Schlumberger in the future, said Ellinas.

Noble Energy meanwhile, intend to carry out additional drilling in their Block 12 concession later this year and/or in 2015.

In late 2011 theTexas-based outfit discovered gross mean resources of 5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas offshore Cyprus.